Gorgeous autumn morning in Taupo, leaves changing colour and air crisp, as I wandered down to the boat launch for a 2 ½ hour cruise on Lake Taupo.
Unsurprisingly, there was loads of competition for one’s boating $$ in this town. Rough Guide had put me on to an interesting variation: sailing in a 1928 ketch once owned by Errol Flynn (when he reportedly won it in a card game). Boat’s history here:
http://www.barbary.co.nz/history.htm
$40 on this day got me 2 ½ beautiful calm hours on one of the clearest lakes I’ve ever seen, wonderful sailing companions (couple from Birmingham working at a Taupo hostel), a friendly and very with-it captain, tea and cookies.
We cruised through a couple of bays ringed with expensive vacation homes, learned local history, and made our way to some “Maori cave carvings”. These are of the non-sacred and non-ancient variety. Maori didn’t do cave or rock painting like many North American tribes, but a few Maori from the area came out and left their mark in the 70’s. Our cap’n cut to the chase - they were a bunch of hippies who brought girlfriends with them and did some trad and non-trad art. Good times. I‘m sure psychedelics were involved too..
The carvings were mildly cool, but lighting not that great for photos. It serves more as a good turnaround point for cruises, as it’s approx. 1 hour from Taupos. On the way back we watched the parachutes (Taupo is cheapest in country for tandem dives, they throw up to 200 people out of planes daily), passed by fishers showing off their freshly-caught trout, and stretched out in the sun.
The wind picked up from the north on the way back, bringing with it a faint sulphur smell from Rotorua, 90 km to the north. Finally we could turn off the motor and sail back into the city. Ahhhh…
Unsurprisingly, there was loads of competition for one’s boating $$ in this town. Rough Guide had put me on to an interesting variation: sailing in a 1928 ketch once owned by Errol Flynn (when he reportedly won it in a card game). Boat’s history here:
http://www.barbary.co.nz/history.htm
$40 on this day got me 2 ½ beautiful calm hours on one of the clearest lakes I’ve ever seen, wonderful sailing companions (couple from Birmingham working at a Taupo hostel), a friendly and very with-it captain, tea and cookies.
We cruised through a couple of bays ringed with expensive vacation homes, learned local history, and made our way to some “Maori cave carvings”. These are of the non-sacred and non-ancient variety. Maori didn’t do cave or rock painting like many North American tribes, but a few Maori from the area came out and left their mark in the 70’s. Our cap’n cut to the chase - they were a bunch of hippies who brought girlfriends with them and did some trad and non-trad art. Good times. I‘m sure psychedelics were involved too..
The carvings were mildly cool, but lighting not that great for photos. It serves more as a good turnaround point for cruises, as it’s approx. 1 hour from Taupos. On the way back we watched the parachutes (Taupo is cheapest in country for tandem dives, they throw up to 200 people out of planes daily), passed by fishers showing off their freshly-caught trout, and stretched out in the sun.
The wind picked up from the north on the way back, bringing with it a faint sulphur smell from Rotorua, 90 km to the north. Finally we could turn off the motor and sail back into the city. Ahhhh…
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